


Shadows

by BradyGirl_12



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Challenge Response, Claims Table, Drama, First Kiss, First Time, M/M, Male Slash, Prompt Fic, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:58:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BradyGirl_12/pseuds/BradyGirl_12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick understands Bruce’s shadows.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Claim: For the [DCU_Freeforall](dcu_freeforall.livejournal.com) Challenge [(Bruce/Dick)](http://bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/413848.html)  
> Prompt: T 18; P 17: Shadows  
> Prompt Count: (3/15)  
> Original LJ Date Of Completion: June 16, 2009  
> Original LJ Date Of Posting: June 30, 2009  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, DC does, more’s the pity.  
> Original LJ Word Count: 411  
> Feedback welcome and appreciated.

He supposed he should have been creeped out.

It hadn’t been that long after Dick had arrived at Wayne Manor that he’d awakened in his room to sense that Bruce was watching him from the shadows.

Either Bruce or Alfred would come to him after a nightmare, giving him comfort, but this was different. He had not suffered a nightmare, but that first night of Bruce watching from the shadows hadn’t upset him at all.

He’d felt safe and loved instead.

Dick never spoke to Bruce, just curled up tighter under the covers, and as he fell asleep, felt a kiss on his forehead and smiled. He was Protector and Protected.

Dick understood why Bruce did it. He needed to see Dick, know that he was all right, because when you lost loved ones in the blink of an eye, your world shattered, you grew afraid, needed reassurance, needed to _know_ if the person you loved was safe and sound. You couldn’t just _think_ it; you had to _know_ it.

So Dick would never be upset at Bruce watching him from the shadows, happy that Bruce loved him enough to need to _know_.

Nobody would understand, so he kept those times to himself. People already thought Bat-ways were odd, and this would just confirm it. Best if he kept it within the family.

Eventually Bruce stopped his shadowy surveillance as Dick grew older, and Dick missed it, but he was interested in something else from Bruce.

He began dropping hints, plying his wares, certain that Bruce wanted him. He knew the nature of Bat-reticence and was determined to get past it, especially after his 18th birthday.

He flirted; he smiled; he showed bare leg and threw saucy looks over his shoulder with a swirl of sunshine cape.

He knew that Bruce wanted him.

And he wanted Bruce.

So it was that on a starlit night Dick awoke in his bed, and for the first time in years, he sensed Bruce watching him from the shadows.

That sense of security and love settled over him like Batman’s cape, and he smiled. He lifted his head and stretched his arm out, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the windows.

He saw a gleam in the dark, perhaps a minute hesitation, then Bruce melted out of the comforting shadows and took Dick’s hand, slipping into bed and kissing Dick with all the love in his lonely heart.

Dick kissed back, happy for shadows.


End file.
